Nets and Lakers were the title favorites. Today both teams are in Cancun

[SUPERVILLAIN]

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[NbaAllDay]

This is a good thing imo. People complain when it's overly predictable. Injuries and roster cohesion issues happen. The League has felt a lot more wide open since the 10 year stretch of Lebron dominating the East and the San Antonio into GSW owning the West for most of the same time.

[monopoman]

This is a good thing imo. People complain when it's overly predictable. Injuries and roster cohesion issues happen. The League has felt a lot more wide open since the 10 year stretch of Lebron dominating the East and the San Antonio into GSW owning the West for most of the same time.

Well I think the Lakers were overhyped if The Nets could stay healthy and Kyrie would have gotten vaccinated I think they would be much higher in the standings.

Lakers have had injury trouble but they were relying on Westbrook and Melo to be damn good and I think both players are way past that, Melo is still a reasonable bench piece but his defense is atrocious so if he isn't hitting shots he is horrible to have out there.

Crap, I remember Melo in Portland and saw a lot of those issues when he was out there. Great if he was hitting shots but he gave up a lot on the other end mostly.

This season proved without a shadow of a doubt that Westbrook is a shell of his former self, and he is only going to get worse as the years pass.

[SF_Warriors]

Crazy to think that a team has to get through KD or bron in a play in game just to make the playoffs. Great for the league imo.

[NbaAllDay]

This is a good thing imo. People complain when it's overly predictable. Injuries and roster cohesion issues happen. The League has felt a lot more wide open since the 10 year stretch of Lebron dominating the East and the San Antonio into GSW owning the West for most of the same time.

Well I think the Lakers were overhyped if The Nets could stay healthy and Kyrie would have gotten vaccinated I think they would be much higher in the standings.

Lakers have had injury trouble but they were relying on Westbrook and Melo to be damn good and I think both players are way past that, Melo is still a reasonable bench piece but his defense is atrocious so if he isn't hitting shots he is horrible to have out there.

Crap, I remember Melo in Portland and saw a lot of those issues when he was out there. Great if he was hitting shots but he gave up a lot on the other end mostly.

This season proved without a shadow of a doubt that Westbrook is a shell of his former self, and he is only going to get worse likely.

Yes I think the Nets should have been better positioned at this stage and those variables caused more issues that expected.

As for the Lakers, correct. AD injury + Westbrook being less impactful than expected, + Same with Melo and THT to a lesser extent. You then factor in that although Lebron is still an Elite player, he isn't the 'Prime' Lebron anymore that can give you GOAT level production (and therefore his name overrates the lakers in general) you can see why they were rated higher than it turned out.

[somerandomdude]

Nets were 2nd seed before KD's injury.

Lakers have been consistently awful.

[Joshyjess]

[Dr Aki]

Lakers have been consistently awful indeed.

The bet was that Vogel, a defensive specialist, would be able to turn players who were never known for their defense -Westbrook, Melo, Monk, even DAJ, into passable defenders.

Losing Caruso, not having Nunn, AD, **** even Ariza for significant proportions of the season turned the Lakers to **** because the Lakers are basically 50-50 if they shot decently from 3pt, and when they didn't they'd lose, and when they did it was also only a 50-50 proposition

[DroseReturnChi]

nets are intentionally being bad and doing load management for all big 3.

[JRoy]

It’s beautiful

[Lalouie]

it's actually tiresome to talk about lal anymore. yes with the advantage of a teeny bit of 20-20 hindsight, this was all foretold. they have been hit on all sides. and if you think there'sa bit of glimmering hope in lebron's numbers, it's not numbers from a young lebron who could shove the needle, it's from an older freight train who isn't moving the needle

the nets otoh is fun. greatest shooting team ever on paper

[76ciology]

Vega$

[CIN-C-STAR]

I remember just last year RealGM was ready to hang a banner for Brooklyn because they almost beat the Bucks in the 2nd round.
How the mighty have fallen

[RoundMoundOfRebound]

[Pennebaker]

Maybe it's time for everyone to give up on all members of the 2012 Thunder.

[zimpy27]

The Lakers odds were definitely just fan bets

[Ugly0598]

I have no clue why anyone thought the Lakers would be any better after last year by adding Russell Westbrook, it’s not a new development of who he is

[JN61]

Karma of Durant and LeBron trying to cheat the game.

[dans1230]

A team with a healthy and available KD, Harden, and Kyrie would still be a title favorite.
People just werent ready to bet against Lebron for good reason. Injuries and and the bonehead decision to trade for Westbrook rather than hold onto those pieces and trying to upgrade the pg spot at this years trade deadline have derailed this team.

[Pachinko_]

it's actually tiresome to talk about lal anymore. yes with the advantage of a teeny bit of 20-20 hindsight, this was all foretold.

to be fair, it was also told with foresight in the summer by every man and his dog.